Edgar Springs couple claims $25K Lottery prize

A night out with friends at the Rolla VFW resulted in a $25,002 Missouri Lottery prize for an Edgar Springs couple.

Kurt and Kristie Ross were enjoying good company and playing Club Keno on Jan. 10 at the VFW in Rolla when Kristie purchased a few Club Keno tickets throughout the evening.

She knew she won a little, but was pleasantly surprised with the $25,002 windfall when she scanned her tickets at the end of the night.

“I was like, ‘What the heck, we’ll play Keno while we’re here,’ ” began Kurt. “This was the third ticket she bought. She bought one ticket and won $5 on it; played again, and won $10; and then played that again, and, well, ended up with this.

“We weren’t watching numbers or anything, just let it play and, at the end, went and put it in the little scanner on the wall. I thought I was going to have to call the ambulance on her, she was so excited.”

The couple claimed their winning ticket at the St. Louis Lottery office on Jan. 14 while Kurt, a project manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, had business in St. Louis.

The couple planned to celebrate with a trip to a casino while in town. Beyond that, plans for the windfall include paying down debt and helping their children and grandchildren.

“It worked out just perfect for us,” said Kurt. “We’re going to pay down some credit cards from Christmas, and then give some money to our kids and put the rest in savings. We’re going to keep playing Keno. Just spend your money wisely, and keep playing on a regular basis. For us, it was all luck.”

Kurt concluded with a little advice for other players: “Don’t take it serious, and have fun at it and enjoy it when you do win.”

Club Keno is a daily draw game with drawings every four minutes. Players decide how many numbers, also called spots, to play and win prizes based on the number of matches with the 20 winning numbers drawn.

The couple hit nine out of 10 spots with bulls-eye to win the $25,000 prize. Another play on the same ticket won $2, adding to the total prize amount claimed of $25,002.